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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

€2 mln to be invested in veterinary medicine twinning project

Belgrade, 3 April 2007

Coordinator of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Predrag Bubalo said today that €2 million will be invested in the next two years in realisation of the twinning project "Institutional capacity building of the Veterinary Medicine Directorate".

Bubalo said that this project is realised by the German Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and the Veterinary Medicine Directorate of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, and financed by the European Union through the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR).

The Minister said that the aim of the project is to support development of the market economy in the sector of veterinary medicine and food production in Serbia and their ability to compete on the world market, as well as to help the veterinary service to adopt and implement the relevant EU regulations.

He recalled that the EU has so far financed projects from the field of agriculture worth €75 million and that it invested €10 million in veterinary medicine.

Director of the Veterinary Medicine Directorate Dejan Krnjajic said that experts from Germany, Austria and Slovakia take part in the project's realisation.

Krnjajic said that agriculture and food industry make up approximately 40% of Serbia's GDP and that they could become the main driving force of economic development.

According to him, Serbia has been given licences for exporting products to Israel and Russia and it is about to receive a licence for exporting to the US as well.

He announced that on June 4, an EU inspection service will conduct a two-week inspection in Serbia and voiced hope that after that visit, the list of butcher shops and facilities with licences for exporting to the EU will be expanded.

At the same time, registration of all farms where these species of animals are kept and bred was entered into the central data base, said Krnjajic and added that the Ministry of Agriculture was among the first in the world to secure all pre-conditions for effective prevention and fight against the bird flu.

He said that registration of all farms where poultry and fowl are kept will begin at the latest within two weeks with the aim of controlling and preventing this dangerous infectious disease.

Besides this measure, vaccination of poultry and fowl against atypical infectious diseases will be carried out, and all activities connected with vaccination of poultry and fowl and registration of farms will be entered into the central data base, stressed Krnjajic.

Programme manager of the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) in Serbia Simon Davis said that the EU, through the EAR, has provided support to Serbia in protection against infectious diseases among animals. This help concerned the drafting of laws in the area of veterinary medicine and training of veterinary inspectors.

Similarly the EU has given help in the drafting of the guidebook and instructions for protection from infectious diseases, and the Veterinary Directorate has received vehicles and equipment for collecting samples and disinfection of facilities, said Davis.

Davis stressed that this twinning project will particularly focus on control and removal of animal waste, which can jeopardise public health, as was the case in the “mad cow disease” outbreak in the EU.